# Estimate-First Pre-Payment Discipline for Agents

> Estimate-First Pre-Payment Discipline for Agents is a paid API for AI agents from k2so.wrong.systems, paid per call via x402, $0.002/call, status down (last checked 2026-09-15).

Provides a decision procedure for AI agents to verify an x402/MPP payment challenge's price, network, expiry, and terms before paying, preventing overpayment and settlement failures.

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://k2so.wrong.systems/api/services/estimate-first-pre-payment-discipline-for-agents
- Price: $0.002/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: down
- Last checked: 2026-09-15
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/estimate-first-pre-payment-discipline-for-agents-c4337de8
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_eKWrac_xKNvRVQ2uQH-aC

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability estimate-first-pre-payment-discipline-for-agents-c4337de8
```

Example prompt: Before I pay this x402 payment challenge, check whether the quoted price, network, and expiry terms are within my budget and look legitimate — flag any price surprises or hidden fees and tell me whether to pay or refuse.

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when your agent needs a deterministic, evidence-backed pre-payment gate before settling any x402/MPP challenge — especially when operating autonomously with a fixed budget or when integrating with third-party services where price surprises or hidden fees are a risk. Prefer this over ad-hoc budget checks when you need a structured audit trail for refusals or when compliance with a pre-payment discipline policy is required.

## Known failure modes

- Missing or malformed x402 challenge input returns a handler error with ok:false
- Challenge expiry already elapsed results in a refusal with expiry evidence
- Network mismatch between challenge and agent wallet causes a validation failure
- Price exceeds configured budget triggers a refuse decision with price comparison detail
- Service temporarily unavailable returns a non-200 with no result body

## How this service works

Decision procedure for verifying an x402/MPP challenge's quoted price, network, expiry, and terms BEFORE paying: parse the 402 challenge, confirm the quote matches the agent's budget and wallet fit, detect price surprises and hidden fees, then pay or refuse with evidence. Eliminates the settlement-failure class where agents pay without checking the price first.

## Output

Returns a structured decision procedure brief including: a go/no-go recommendation, prose explaining the reasoning, detection of price surprises or hidden fees, network and expiry validation status, the service slug, generation timestamp, and source (llm/reasoning/deterministic). Also includes payment metadata confirming whether the call itself was paid.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "required": [
  "input"
 ],
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type",
    "method"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "http"
    },
    "method": {
     "enum": [
      "GET",
      "HEAD",
      "DELETE"
     ],
     "type": "string"
    },
    "queryParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "properties": {
      "meta": {
       "enum": [
        "0",
        "1"
       ],
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Set to 1 for free metadata JSON (no payment required)"
      },
      "topic": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Optional topic override for the decision procedure"
      }
     }
    }
   },
   "additionalProperties": false
  },
  "output": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string"
    },
    "example": {
     "type": "object",
     "title": "estimate-first pre-payment discipline for agents paid response",
     "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
     "required": [
      "ok",
      "paid",
      "service",
      "provider",
      "result"
     ],
     "properties": {
      "ok": {
       "type": "boolean"
      },
      "paid": {
       "type": "boolean"
      },
      "result": {
       "type": "object",
       "required": [
        "ok",
        "service"
       ],
       "properties": {
        "ok": {
         "type": "boolean",
         "description": "Handler success"
        },
        "brief": {
         "type": "string",
         "description": "Decision procedure prose for agents"
        },
        "model": {
         "type": "string"
        },
        "topic": {
         "type": "string"
        },
        "service": {
         "type": "string",
         "description": "Service slug"
        },
        "procedure": {
         "type": "string"
        },
        "generatedAt": {
         "type": "string",
         "description": "ISO-8601 timestamp"
        },
        "generationSource": {
         "enum": [
          "llm",
          "reasoning",
          "deterministic"
         ],
         "type": "string"
        }
       }
      },
      "payment": {
       "type": "object",
       "properties": {
        "code": {
         "type": "string"
        },
        "payer": {
         "type": "string"
        },
        "detail": {
         "type": "string"
     
… (truncated)
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "ok": true,
  "paid": true,
  "result": {
   "ok": true,
   "brief": "plain prose decision procedure (120+ words)",
   "model": "deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-0731",
   "topic": "string topic",
   "service": "estimate-first-pre-payment-discipline-for-agents",
   "procedure": "same as brief",
   "generatedAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z",
   "generationSource": "deterministic"
  },
  "service": "estimate-first-pre-payment-discipline-for-agents",
  "provider": "K-2SO"
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/estimate-first-pre-payment-discipline-for-agents-c4337de8/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from k2so.wrong.systems](https://www.zero.xyz/host/k2so.wrong.systems/llms.txt)